Week Ending - 2021/09/05

BADGERS DIG DEEP AT DESFORD

This week the Badgers ventured to Desford for the latest event in the LRRL league races, a nice 5 miles in the Leicestershire countryside awaited the 47 brave souls who had entered this time around.

First home for the Badgers, once again, in a magnificent 5^th place, was Matt Scarsbrook in a time 28:15, with Glyn Broadhurst taking first MV45 in 29:42. Adi Payne with 29:57, and Club Chair Danny Warren, in 30:06, also made the top 30. First lady home was Rebecca Harris, with a brilliant time of 35:55, followed home by Rebekah Smyth, 36:33, whilst club stalwarts Cheryl Dewis, 38:25, and Nicki Bowman, 41:19, were close behind.

Hot and humid conditions made running difficult, but Carl Savage with 33:14 and David Grant with 35:40 both achieved pbs, whilst Pip Weston equalled the V60 club record in a time of 42:59: these performances, along with Matt Scarsbrook’s 5^th place and Glyn Broadhurst’s first MV45 were the pinnacles of an all-round fantastic club performance.

Meanwhile, several club members ventured to Milton Keynes for the MK Running Festival. Mark Repton completed the 20 mile race in 2:19:42, just missing the top 40 in a field of 590 runners. Meanwhile, Janet Crumpton (2 hrs 21), Karen Draper (2 hrs 26) and Gill Miller (2 hrs 28) all completed the half marathon.

Badgers were also to be found at parkruns all around the country, whether challenge chasing or on holiday, but it was closer to home that Keir Hardy ran a superb 3^rd place at Babb’s Mill, just missing out on sub 20 minutes by 11 seconds, and Kingsbury Water Park, where both Aaron Chetwynd (19:03) and Sam Starkey (19:04) made the top 8. And, just to show that Badgers will give anything a go, Andy and Holly Smith completed the Eyam Fell Race, the famous plague village in the Peak District, in a respectable time of 1:26:17.